Heart of Darkness Introduction

Joseph Conrad and His Times Joseph Conrad was born to aristocratic Polish parents at a time when Poland was a part of the Russian empire. He did not learn English until he was twenty years old. At first his novels and stories were not well received, and he was viewed as a writer of adventurous sea stories for young boys. Clearly Conrad’s experience as a seafarer had a major influence on his works, but he did not write only about the sea. His major focus was the capacity of human beings to endure—under extreme conditions—the constant threat of the dissolution of human integrity and a surrender to the darkness that he saw as the essential heart of the entire universe. His works always focus on human beings under stress, and he never comes to clear conclusions about why people behave as they do.

The Novel’s Themes Conrad’s view of the world is that there are dark, chaotic forces that continually threaten to destroy individuals and whole civilizations. People die, bodies decay, civilizations fall; and only constant effort and attention to preservation can halt these forces—and then only temporarily. In philosophy, Conrad can be seen as a precursor of the Existentialists, who likewise believed that the inevitable fate of each individual was darkness and oblivion, but that humans must not surrender to these destructive impulses. Conrad believed that to truly understand the world, people have to confront the true destructive heart of the universe, but they do so at great risk. Conrad sets his story in what was still, in his time, one of the last great stretches of unknown territory in the world.

Narrative Layers In Heart of Darkness Conrad increases the distance between the main character in the story (Kurtz) and the reader by adding several layers of narrative isolation. The first layer of isolation occurs with Conrad’s use of his experiences as the fresh-water commander of a steamboat expedition up the Congo River, which is the probable basis of the character Marlow. The second layer is told from a narrator who is listening to Marlow’s story. Finally, Marlow is a third layer of isolation in that he tells a story the meaning of which he himself admittedly does not fully understand. His stories are, after all, “inconclusive experiences.”

BACKGROUND The novella is based on a four-month stint Conrad spent in the Congo. Out of work, broke, and eager for a chance to realize his boyhood dream of exploring central Africa, he had accepted an assignment to command a steamboat up the Congo River for the Belgian Company for Upper-Congo Commerce. This company ranked as one of late-nineteenth-century Europe’s most successful—and greedy—traders in ivory. Conrad plumbs the depths of human consciousness to explore the dark side of the personality. This is one of the most debated pieces of fiction of this time. Perhaps it is because his sophisticated narrative technique helped paved the way for modern fiction. Or perhaps it is because of his elegant prose style.

THE TIME AND PLACE The novella takes place in the Congo River basin in the summer of 1890, during a period when the colonization of Africa was at its peak and Belgium’s King Leopold II was ruthlessly exploiting the land and its people. European countries rushed to claim territory in Africa and to establish strongholds that would secure their status as world powers. Before that period, few Europeans had explored the “Dark Continent.”

Significant Information Evidence of satiric messages Motif of darkness Enigma and symbolism of Kurtz The “othering” of Africans Roles of women The Impressionistic style Rhetorical effects of the frame narrative (ambiguity and reliability of Marlow; parallel of England and Congo) Symbolism of ivory; themes associated with ivory